Furnace Soot & Puffback
What causes furnace puffbacks?
A furnace puffback is a sudden release of smoke, soot, or debris from the heating system into the living space. This can be alarming and may cause damage to your property. At Bulldog®, we recommend having your furnace inspected annually to get ahead of any potential issues that could cause a puffback or other property damage. A furnace inspection should include inspecting the ignition system and pilot light mechanisms. Incomplete combustion produces excess fuel that may accumulate and ignite suddenly, causing a puffback. Our team offers professional soot & puffback clean up services in the event you suffer from large carbon deposits as a result of a faulty furnace.
Regular maintenance can also help discover if there is excessive buildup of oil or gas in the combustion chamber. This can also lead to an uncontrolled ignition and puffback. The heat exchanger should also be looked at to ensure it is not cracked or damaged. A broken heat exchanger can allow combustion byproducts into the living space and can be a serious risk to occupants health and safety.
soot damage after chimney sweeps
Why you should clean your Chimney
When you use your wood burning fireplace or stove, the combustion process creates something called creosote. Creosote is extremely flammable and can build up inside the chimney, increasing your risk for chimney fires. Creosote build up and chimney blockages will also restrict ventilation, causing a backup of gases, smoke and other combustion related byproducts.
Cleaning the chimney removes creosote and helps reduce the risk of inhaling toxic substances and chimney fires or puffbacks. Our team offers professional soot & puffback clean up and restoration services as a result of excess creosote deposits after a chimney blockage or faulty combustion process.
Soot Inspection
Depending on the location of the puffback, our team will check wall cavities, attics and basements for hidden odor causing soot deposits.
removal
Soot restoration is tedious. Our expert soot and puffback clean up and remediation team pay close attention to detail ensuring complete removal.
restoration
Heavy soot damage, to walls, ceilings and floors are treated to block stains and odors after the soot removal process is completed.
Soot & Smoke Restoration Experts
Contents Cleaning, Inventory & Restoration - Soot & Puffback
Contents affected by soot & smoke after a fire or puffback should be professionally cleaned and sanitized. Our team of soot & puffback clean up and restoration experts can help! Soot is acidic and attracted to metals and electronics. It can travel and get inside of the smallest cracks and crevices. For this reason, contents should be carefully inspected which can sometimes result in taking apart and cleaning internal components. Below are a list of contents specific service our team of professional restorers offer to help with contents restoration after a fire damage or puff back.
At first it sounds simple, create a list of everything you own. Then you start to think about how many pairs of shoes are in the closet or how many legos your children have. A good contents inventory list will not only account for the little things but also provide quantity information, serial numbers and model numbers for verification.
Our team takes this task on, providing all of this information and more, including images of the contents in a shareable format, making the replacement cost vs. cleaning cost analysis easy.
A good contents inventory can add thousands of dollars to your insurance proceeds and help cover expensive replacement and cleaning costs!
Once the contents inventory is complete, your belongings are carefully packed into boxes and tracked. Whether they are being stored onsite in a container, or being brought back to our facility for cleaning and restoration, our team organizes and handles the entire process from beginning to end.
Soot is attracted to electromagnet and static charges. For this reason, it can find its way into electronics and utilities and over time, cause circuit boards to deteriorate. We tell people that although their TV works today, in 6months it might just not turn on. For this reason, we recommend cleaning the internal TV or electronic components.
Textiles damaged by soot and smoke should be laundered professionally. Specific and specialized chemicals are used to deodorize and remove soot from the fibers, leaving the items clean and smelling a lot less like a fire damage.
*Bulldog® handles many specialized textile and electronics cleaning “in-house”. With that said, we have partnered with local companies that specialize in JUST electronics and textiles. Depending on the scenario, our team may work closely with our partners to ensure your contents are restored to pre-loss condition*
Soot Clean Up - Structural & Mechanical Components
After a fire, soot or smoke damage, mechanical systems should be inspected to ensure soot is not imbedded in ducting, electrical components and enclosed systems. After a fire damage or puffback, our team always recommend completing an HVAC duct cleaning to deodorize and sanitize ductwork and prevent loose creosote deposits from traveling throughout the house after it’s been cleaned.
Immediate Actions after discovering soot damage
Determining if the soot is coming from a chimney or fireplace is important. Once you have determined the source of the soot, immediately stop use of that utility until the chimney or furnace can be inspected by a professional.
Taking photos of the fire, soot and smoke damage is extremely important. You may need to prove particular items or contents were in the damage location in order to to be reimbursed by your insurance carrier. Our team likes to say “If its not in a picture, it never happened”. So take wide angle photos of the entire space, individual photos of high value contents and furniture and try to locate and photograph the source of the fire, soot and smoke damages. For help with contents inventory, pack out and pack back services, call Bulldog® for more details!
At Bulldog Cleaning & Restoration, we employ IICRC Certified Master Fire/Soot/Smoke Restorers. Unfortunately, this industry does not require Master designations or specific trainings or licenses to perform fire/soot/smoke damage cleanup and restoration. Many companies, even large national companies, do not hold the same accreditations or certifications and they are not required in order to join carrier vendor lists. For this reason, it is important to vet the fire/soot/smoke restoration company before hiring them to perform the emergency service. Also, ask for a quote. If the company can not give you an estimate prior to the start of work, think twice before letting them proceed. Our team will always review the scope of work and pricing prior to start, allowing you to make an informed decision based on the parameters of the project. All of our emergency service proposals are based on “visible and accessible” damages and will outline what is necessary per the Standard of Care.
Depending on the damage, filing a claim may be appropriate. A professional fire damage cleanup and restoration service can help you make that determination based on damages and the results of the initial inspection.
Always ask for a copy of the agreements you will be signing. Many fire, soot and smoke damage clean up agreements include a direction of pay and/or assignment of benefits, allowing the insurance carrier to pay them directly. They should also outline what is included in the scope, the pricing and roughly how long things should take. Bulldog provides a Personal Client Portal for all customers, allowing them access to all the job documents and photos for as long as they keep the link. This makes organizing claim information effortless.
Like anything else, insurance is a business and although they are looking to be fair and reasonable, some adjusters will slash invoices or refuse payment for things your policy should absolutely cover. The more involved you are, the more familiar with your coverage, the easier it will be to catch discrepancies and make sure you are getting what you are owed under your policy.
Our team is experienced in fire/soot/smoke damage clean up and restoration and we know our way around the insurance claims process. Our company has built a reputation for quality and we look forward to proving it is well deserved. Give us a call in the event of your next puffback or soot damage and let us help you when “Minutes Matter Most”
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RELIABILITY
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